Southbank Residents Association

12 Jul 2016

Winter has definitely set in but your SRA committee certainly hasn’t gone into hibernation.

As you may recall from last month, we have been actively lobbying the City of Melbourne to reconsider the use of the block of land behind Boyd on City Rd. It was originally ear-marked for a 30-storey residential tower before council withdrew the permit from the developer after failing to commence the development.

We launched a petition on Change.org and were elated to see the community get behind it and endorse the entire space being converted to a park – green open space – by contributing almost 900 signatures of support.

We presented our petition to council and on June 28 it considered this matter by way of a confidential agenda item. The detail of the deliberations are not yet known, but what we can report is that no final decision was made.

This is promising news though, as it is clear to us, council recognises the real opportunities here and appears committed to give the matter due diligence and further consideration, which we believe is critical in order to determine the best outcome for council and the residents of Southbank.

In the meantime, our petition remains active and we’re still asking everyone with an interest in Southbank and green open space in the city to sign and share it with as many friends and family as possible. We acknowledge there will be many competing interests in this matter and we trust council will do what is necessary to get it right and not rush their decision. We’ll continue to keep you informed as we now know first hand just how important it is to so many of you.

In other news this month, the budget was passed by council and it was comforting to know the City Rd upgrade will commence in the coming financial year. This is a significant project for Southbank and will provide wonderful amenity to residents and improve the feel and safety of our environment although it will be many years until completion.

We’re always trying to grow our membership base to increase our advocacy, so if you live in Southbank, please visit our website southbankresidents.com.au and consider becoming a member. It’s only $10 to support a cause that works for you. Did you know your building can become a member too?

Please feel free to ask for more information and find out how being a member of SRA will benefit the OC in your building.

Looking ahead, our AGM date has been confirmed for October 17. If you are passionate about your local community and would like to get involved and have a say, then I urge you to consider joining our committee. We are always in need of an extra set of hands.